News from around the 32 Irish counties

ANTRIM
Well over 5,000 people requested PSNI application forms in just over two weeks. Details of the potential demand for places on the next recruitment-training scheme emerged as Policing Board chairman Barry Gilligan urged young people considering a career in the service not to be deterred by the dissident republican threat.
(Source: The Belfast Telegraph)

CARLOW
Teen Actress and Carlow native Saoirse Ronan will take on Hollywood superweight Meryl Streep in the ‘best actress’ category at this year’s BAFTA awards. Saoirse was announced among the nominees for the awards this week and will be the youngest leading actress winner in BAFTA history if she triumphs for her role in The Lovely Bones. The awards will take place in London on 21 February. However, the 15-yearold is already discovering the downsides of fame: she has walked away from school, alleging ‘negative attitudes’ towards her from teachers and fellow pupils. The budding starlet told an English newspaper this week that she had quit her boarding school, blaming some of her teachers for giving her a “hard time” over her movie success.
(Source: The Carlow Nationalist)

CAVAN
SIPTU is calling on the Labor Relations Commission to intervene in a worsening dispute between the Kingspan plant in Kingscourt and its production workers. As workers threaten to strike in ten days time, the company has warned that if the strike goes ahead, it may be necessary to relocate production elsewhere in the group. The union has served notice of industrial action on Kingspan claiming that the company is unilaterally implementing Labor Court recommendations, which have been overwhelmingly rejected by its members.
(Source: The Anglo Celt)

DERRY
A Derry family fears their frail mother may refuse life-saving cancer treatment because she does not want to travel to Belfast. Celine Birtles and Vivienne Johnston say their 77 year-old mother Agnes, who is battling breast cancer, has been told she'll have to take a bus to the cancer centre in Belfast on Monday mornings - and stay there for four nights during the week to receive radiotherapy. The women have now begun a campaign to demand radiotherapy treatment is made available locally as a matter of urgency, claiming the North's second city should not have to put up with "third world health care."
(Source: The Derry Journal)

DONEGAL
Gaoth Dobhair singer-songwriter Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh has emerged the clear favorite to pick up the 2009 Donegal Person of the Year title. An announcement will be made by the promoters of the event, the Donegal Association in Dublin on the night at a special function in Foleys' of Merrion Row, but sources say the only lady in the running has pipped seven others to claim the honor.
(Source: Donegal Democrat)

DUBLIN
The 30kph speed limit zone proposed by Dublin City Council makes "no sense", say critics. The new limit came into effect last Sunday and will now apply from Bolton Street in the north inner city to Kevin Street Lower and St Stephen's Green on the other side of the Liffey. It will also extend from the Church Street and Bridge Street areas in the west to Gardiner Street, Tara Street and Dawson Street on the east. And it will operate 24 hours a day -- taking in periods when there is very little traffic on the roads. The limit is being imposed on busy roads like the North and South Quays, Parnell Street, College Green, Dame Street, Dawson Street and Kildare St. AA director of policy Conor Faughnan said there was " just no sense" in expanding the 30kph area, adding the move would infuriate motorists.
(Source: The Evening Herald)

GALWAY
€500m project to bypass Tuam and Claregalway bottlenecks. Construction work on the long-awaited €500 million new motorway from Gort to Tuam will commence this November. The National Roads Authority has confirmed that two consortia of builders and financial institutions have been shortlisted from a list of around six consortia who had expressed interest in building the road in a Public Private Partnership (PPP). BAM Balfour Beatty and Direct Route will now go ‘head to head’ in a competition to win the tender for the development. BAMBalfour Beatty consists of BAMPPP and Balfour Beatty Capital Ltd and Direct Route consists of AIB plc, Strabag SE, John Sisk & Son (Holdings) Ltd, Roadbridge and Lagan Construction Ltd.
(Source: Galway News)

KERRY
Kerry fishmongers Quinlans have received a national quality award from Bord Iascaigh Mhara. Quinlan's Fish, who have four fish shops across Kerry in Cahersiveen, Killorglin, Tralee, and Killarney have been named in the BIM seafood circle awards for 2010. "This is a great achievement as our shops in Tralee and Killarney have only opened in the past year and the Killorglin shop was the only fish shop in Ireland to receive a 100 per cent success rate from the BIM judges," said proprietor Fintan Quinlan.
(Source: The Kerryman)